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Sunday, 6 April 2014

Hell's Farm: A Chain of Command AAR

Oh yes!! I
felt today like a character in The Longest Day film, in my first (and
overwhelming!) successful command of a British paratroops platoon in Normandy.
A very intense scenario played with Chain of Command and featuring the defence
of a farm in a typical Normandy landscape by the Red Devils, facing a furious
counterattack of the Germans in the second day after the landing.

In this scenario
(from the Skirmish Campaigns Book “Normandy ’44- The Devils of the Orne”) the objective
is to control the walled house towards the centre of the map in the British
area. We arranged this scenario to be played as an Attack on an Objective of
the Chain of Command book.

The Germans
comprised a regular reinforced infantry platoon supported with a Pz IV,a Stug,
a FOO to control the offboard artillery pieces and a MMG team. The British had
a full elite paratroops platoon supported by 2 Shermans and selected a PIAT
team as reinforcement.

Panzer marsch!

The patrol
phase is one of the most important segments of the game, as it has a significant
effect in the development of the game with your troops of the table. In this
case the Germans decided to concentrate its patrols in their right flank with
the intention of placing the jump-off points as close as possible to the
contested house and game objective, under the cover of the orchard and the field
to the northern edge of the table.

The
reaction of the British was to launch its patrols forward and in a couple of
moves most of the German patrol markers were locked (= within 12” distance of
another enemy marker) far-far away from where they were looking to deploy.

This significantly
constraint the Germans the ability to place its own jump-off markers, while
gave the British ample flexibility to place its own, which we did concentrated
around the house and covering our right flank in case of a flanking move of the
Germans and to deny the control of the hill in the southern edge of the table.

Now the
game started and two Germans sections were deployed on their right flank and advanced
to the limit of the bocage line, while the FOO was placed in the second floor
of the main building in the farm compound within the area of control of the
Germans.

To check
the threat I deployed a paratroop section in the dense woods on my left flank,
ready to fire (overwatch) if any
German unit attempted to cross the bocage line. A second section was deployed
in the farm, with the rifle team protected behind the stone wall outside and
the Bren team in the second floor level of the house, having LOS into the
orchard and the main farm compound.

The German
AFVs entered the table along the road hidden to our forces with the bocage line
and the farm. The British tank troop was also activated, and after moving in
its second phase, were put on overwatch, thus covering any potential threat
coming from the road and/or the farm.

At this
stage of the game, three simultaneous and remarkable actions took place:

On the left
of the British line, the rifle section jumped over the stone wall an made a
grenade attack on the Germans behind the bocage, killing two men.

The Bren
gun in the second floor of the house detected some activity in the farm and
opened fire of the FOO hidden there, (luckily) killing him and therefore knocking
out the threat of the German heavy mortars.

Finally the
Stug attempted a surprise attack, charging and tumbling down the stone wall of
the farm and emerging in front of the British AFVs, taking advantage of a
double activation phase...

...but to
no avail, as the Sherman (in overwatch) fired first and make a one net hit on
the German tank; in its own activation phase the same Sherman landed two shells
on the Stug causing panic in the crew who bailed out the vehicle.

The loss of
the FOO and the tank made already a dent in the German Force Moral level, reduced
to 6 by now. However, the much stunned players put a straight face and attempted
a new attack. Deploying two new infantry sections in the farm, they moved under
cover of the field and towards the British controlled house. The remaining German tank came in support and
emerged from the bend of the farm.

The British
put in play the last reserve of troops, two Bren teams that deployed from the
jump-off point located in their right flank. In the meantime, the British rifle section
defending the house, crossed again the stone wall with the intention of fencing
the new threat on the right.

The Bren
teams and the other Sherman took aim on one of the German sections stopping
them on their heels, pinning the unit and wounding the junior leader in command.

Two more
rolls on the force moral table and two additional levels lost, now to four.
Things were getting really difficult now for the German players, as their command
dice were reduced from five to four

However the
other section (thanks to a double activation) reached the house perimeter and
made a frontal assault on the paratroopers rifle team, but not before launching
a hail of hand grenades. Close assault is always a bloody affair in Chain of
Command and this was not different, as the Germans had the initiative and completely
wiped out the rifle section.

Bad for the
British, as the house was just defended by the Bren team and a senior leader
attached to them. The Germans were clearly at an advantage if assaulting the
building, as I did not have any reinforcements left! In addition to losing the
main objective, two of my jumpoff points were in danger as well as the risk of
losing one team and the senior leader.

It was my
turn now and I had to decide in the most critical point of the battle what to
do... should I try reinforcing the house with the section in the woods?But then a full German section was free to
attack me before I could cross the stone wall. Or should I send the two Bren
teams on the right? But they had to run in the open and in the LOS of a
murderous HMG under cover in the farm... risky!

My final move:
I put all fire available on the German section pinned in the open... KIAs plus
additional shocks broke the moral of the unit who also lost his junior leader.

Force moral
was rolled (section broken and junior leader killed) and 3 additional points
lost... time now to use the Chain of Command dice to end the turn... any unit
broken when the turn ends is routed out of table... meaning another Force
Morale roll... another point lost... German Force Morale at zero, British victory!!

After action thoughts

Another
hectic game this morning. I must admit that putting out of action the German
FOO early was a lucky strike and made life easier for the British; but there
were three other aspects of the game that helped too: the patrol, a rational
use of the reserves (not commit too early/too late) and reserving the Chain of
Command dice for a critical moment on the game. Specially the last, players
must consider a precious and scarce resource.

The game
today well illustrated the flexible nature of the rules, in the sense that
offers players a wide range of tools and options to use your assets, but the
outcome of a battle it is NOT in the rules but in making good use of those
assets. See in these regards my comments and thoughts in the “A Chain of Command Diary” series in this blog

A final
remark, related to the Force Morale mechanism. As again shown today, this is
for me one of the best ideas of Richard Clarke when Chain of Command was
designed. Looking to erode the morale of
your enemy rather than its physical destruction seems to me a very realistic after
reading contemporary memoirs and battle reports.

Additionally,
it forces the player to act in a different way to other rules, where “resisting
to the last man” is in no way penalised. Commanders should adopt and holistic view
and to take into consideration the erosion suffered by the individual units in
play as they can have the effect this could have on the overall cohesion of the
force.

Today for
example, despite significant forces still intact on the table, the German
commander had to finally disengage the combat and leave the battlefield due to combat
fatigue and increasing difficulties to give orders and these being obeyed.

About Anibal Invictus

A fairly experienced Spanish wargamer, based in Madrid. Together with a group of friends founder of "Club Dragón" in the early 80s. A truly TooFatLardies gruppie since a first love encounter in 2008, I regularly play the Napoleonic, WWI, WWII and Vietnam periods.